Joss Whedon brushes up his Shakespeare with ‘Much Ado’
The director of ‘Serenity’ and ‘The Avengers’ assembles a cast of old favorites for a sexy but languid modern-dress take on Shakespeare’s rom-com.
- Courtesy of Lionsgate
- MERRY WARRIORS: Alexis Denisof and Amy Acker in ‘Much Ado About Nothing’
You could easily spot the Joss Whedon fans at an Atlanta screening of the Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing. When Nathan Fillion and Tom Lenk first appear as members of the local watch, updated as security guards, excitement rippled through the audience, as if they’d seen old friends. Clearly admirers of Whedon’s TV shows, they recognized Fillion as Captain Mal Reynolds from the beloved sci-fi western “Firefly” and Lenk from his hilarious recurring role as a nerd turned would-be supervillain on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.”
For Much Ado About Nothing, the director/adaptor cast numerous familiar faces from “The Whedonverse” and filmed the comedy in and around his own home. Viewers can feel like guests at a lovely reunion event, but only to a point. A black-and-white, modern-dress Shakespeare that feels both passionate and detached, <I<Much Ado less resembles one of Whedon’s trademark genre hybrids than a brainy, economical film experiment from Woody Allen or Robert Altman, although it’s perfectly charming on its own terms.